One of my ongoing fantasies has the new preferential Oscar ballot leading to a huge surprise: Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" makes it onto the best picture list, and Cannes-winner Kirsten Dunst knocks out one of the best actress contenders. It's unlikely, but there's still a week to go before ballots are due on Friday, January 13. And the 58-member National Society of Film Critics award to "Melancholia" will point voters to one of the best-reviewed, most gloriously cinematic movies of the year.

Best actor winner Brad Pitt is already a lock for an Oscar slot for "Moneyball"–the NFS also named him for "The Tree of Life," as well as Jessica Chastain for supporting actress (also for "The Help" and "Take Shelter") , Emanuel Lubezki for cinematography and Terrence Malick as best director; Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") and Trier were runner-ups. Coming in second may not be the boost Gary Oldman needs for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." But Albert Brooks stays on course for a supporting nod for" Drive."

Iranian Oscar submission "A Separation" came in third for best picture and won both screenplay and foreign language film.

In the doc category Werner Herzog registered twice, winning for last year's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and coming in third for this years's "Into the Abyss."

FILM HERITAGE
1. BAMcinématek for its complete Vincente Minnelli retrospective with all titles shown on 16 mm. or 35 mm. film.
2. Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema for the restoration of the color version of George Méliès’s “A Trip to the Moon.”
3. New York’s Museum of Modern Art for its extensive retrospective of Weimar Cinema.
4. Flicker Alley for its box set “Landmarks of Early Soviet Film.”
5. Criterion Collection for its 2-disc DVD package “The Complete Jean Vigo.”